1 - The Black Vault

From:
DAS 4a( Sec)
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
Room 8240, Main Building, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2HB
Telephone
(Direct dial)
(Switchboard)
(Fax)
020 721 8 21 40
020 721 8 9000
Your Reference
Our Reference
DAS(Sec )!64'3
Date
06 Octoller 2000
our ...
Dear Dr Clarke_
.. -.· · ·. ,.· :t.·anl 'rrh1ng ft1tther tom)'· letter of ·2g - s ~·ptf~!'il,cr i"n 'vhich ! t!'·dir:ttedthat I hOped tc be able to repl)' tcY ·
you in greater detail during the course of the first week in October_
T awards the end of your own letter of 4 September you summarised your request for access to information
under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, asking six main questions_ I shall now
address these questions in the ord!.!r they were asked but before doing so it might be helpful if I explain the
usc of the term "sanitise" in the paragraphs below. This simply means that all personal details (names,
addresses) arc obscured as documents that have not been released to the PRO are copied for supply to
indiYidua\ enquirers.
1) OSI/JTIC Report No 7 'Unidentified Flying Objects' (1952) and related intelligence reports on
'UFOs' 1951-52- I can confirm that a review of closed files has taken place but none were found to
contain the report you seck. As a consequence of this, and earlier searches which failed to locate the
r~port we conclude it has not survived the passage of time. However, this latest revie\v identified a
number of'UFO' related documents, six on DEFE 31/ 19 and one page on DEFE 44/l which might be
photocopied and supplied to you, as I shall explain below in greater detail. I am informed that these
documents represent the full extent of'UFO' material contained in closed intelligence records.
2) BJ 5/311 Records ofthe Meteorological Office, 'Unidentified Flying Objects': meteorological
aspects, 1968-79- The file contains some 360 enclosures, mostly letters to and from members ofthc
public, and is due for release to the Public Records Otlice in January 2001. Sanitising and
photocopying the contents of the file might be done marginally in advance of that date (see below).
3) -/A IR 2/18564 Air Ministry/MOD, 'UFO' Report West Freugh 1957-1971 -This file is for release in
January 2002. In the meantime it would be possible to sanitise the dozen or so pages that contain
personal ddails and photocopy them and the remainder of the file (around 40 documents), supplying
you \vith those copies (see belo,v).
/
4) AF/3459/75 'UFOs': Policy and policy statements 1970- The file includes policy documents,
published articles and pamphlets, and some six pages require sanitising. It would be possibk to
photocopy the contents of the file and provide you with copies (see belm\").
- 5) Additional policy files 1968-81- Our researches have identified a substantial number of files,
~0( ~ .... although many appear to contain correspondence from members of the public. We are no\v \vorking
on locating those that may include policy documents and shall write to you as soon as \Ve have
completed that research.